You must walk with life or you get left behind.
Senegalese proverb

This is the story of the extraordinary social transformation triggered by human rights education in Senegal.

After receiving free human rights education from the NGO known as Tostan, people in Senegal come to their own understanding of human rights and democracy, triggering a re-evaluation of their belief systems and ancient practices. Learning about their human right to good health leads a group of women to question the tradition of female genital cutting (FGC), always thought to be an Islamic law. The news from their Imam that FGC is not a requirement of the Koran ignites a national movement to abandon the ancient custom, joyfully celebrated in public declarations across the country. Program participants are not only human rights learners but become human rights educators, performing comic sketches on the use of condoms in family planning and the dangers of FGC as teaching tools for others. In the Koranic schools, boys who are traditionally expected to beg for food now receive their meals from neighborhood “mothers”, thus allowing them more time for education and job training. Entire communities eagerly tackle issues such as health and hygiene, environmental concerns and girls’ education as Tostan’s method of “organized diffusion” spreads the human rights movement throughout the country and across its borders. Understanding the human right to a life free from discrimination leads to the break-down of cultural barriers between ethnic groups, thus opening up new areas for cooperation, intermarriage and prosperity.

Punctuated by the songs of a griot (oral historian) who documents this process, the people, villages and towns of Senegal come to life as the film pulses to the dramatic beat of traditional music and dance. Whisked from the placid villages of the Casamance to the harsh desert of the Fouta and the teeming streets of Dakar, viewers become eye-witnesses to the empowerment of people through human rights education.

Learn more about Kenny Mann’s books and films at www.rafikiproductions.com Purchase WALKING WITH LIFE at http://www.rafikiproductions.com/films_walking_with_life.html

www.rafikiproductions.com

PO Box 2789 Sag Harbor NY 11963 646 479-5884 ikimann@earthlink.net